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McGinnis attended Washington High School in Indianapolis. He and teammate Steve Downing led Washington to a 31-0 record and a state championship in 1969.[1] McGinnis set an Indiana state tournament scoring record with 148 points in his final four games. He was also named Mr. Basketball for the state of Indiana that year.

In the 1970–71 season at Indiana, McGinnis became the first sophomore to lead the Big Ten in scoring and rebounding. He averaged 29.9 points per game in his lone season in Bloomington earning All-American and All-Big Ten Honors in 1971.

McGinnis immediately became one of the marquee players of the ABA, playing a key role on the Indiana Pacers' championship teams in each of his first two seasons with his hometown franchise. He was named the ABA Playoffs MVP in 1973, averaging 23.9 points and 12.3 rebounds in 18 playoffs games to help the Pacers repeat as champs. His best season came in 1974-75, when McGinnis scored a career-high 29.8 points per game en route to ABA MVP honors. He nearly averaged a triple-double in the playoffs that year (32.3 points, 15.9 rebounds, and 8.2 assists in 18 games), but the Pacers fell short of the title, losing to Kentucky in the ABA Finals.

McGinnis jumped over to the NBA following the 1974-75 season, and he didn't skip a beat. He made the All-NBA First Team in his debut season with the Philadelphia 76ers, who had originally drafted him in the 1973 NBA Draft. Teaming up with fellow ABA alumni Julius Erving and Caldwell Jones, McGinnis helped lead the Sixers to the NBA Finals in 1977. McGinnis was traded to the Denver Nuggets in 1978, and was an All-Star again that season. Hoping to boost sagging attendance in their early NBA years, the Pacers re-acquired McGinnis in a trade for a young, high-scoring forward named Alex English. However, McGinnis was only a shadow of his former self, and contributed very little during his two-year return to Indiana. Meanwhile, English went on to become one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history. This transaction is now considered among the worst trades in Pacers' history.[by whom?]

McGinnis is one of four players (the others are Roger Brown, Reggie Miller, and Mel Daniels) to have his jersey (#30) retired by the Pacers. Now that McGinnis is inducted into Springfield, all four players are part of the Basketball Hall of Fame.